A company source told Autocar that 19 of the 25 units to be produced have already been sold and the price has now soared to around £120k, up from the £100k price tag previously predicted by company boss Simon Saunders.

The 3.0-litre V8 is the firm’s own design and is based on a pair of Suzuki Hayabusa engines.

The 500bhp powerplant should make the 500kg Atom one of the fastest accelerating cars of all time, with a potential 0-60mph time of around 2.5sec.

The V8’s price is around four times higher than the standard Atom 300, which costs £30,000. The vast price hike is attributed to the added expense of the engine and gearbox.

Join the debate

It'd be useful to know what manufacturers intend to do in response to the outlawing of semi-slick track-orientated tyres that comes into force in 2012.

On many models, I wonder if there will be enough of a viable market for the standard fit of a track tyre so that the customer can transport the car. Compliant tyres will be a severe compromise to something like this, but I suppose there's not way around the issue if it's going to be used on the road.

And what do Ariel know that Caparo don't?, surely something with this power to weight ratio is going to be a handful(to say the least)to ninety percent of the wealthy enough to purchase said car?!, it seems to me that it's getting to the stage that cars like this should only be sold to competent drivers not just people with more money than sense, don't you?

The M600,i could live with the price tag,just,but the Ariel Atom,this has

to be a joke.

I don't care what the performance is,this is stupid,very stupid!!!!

[/quote]
Since Ariel are only planning to make 25 of these cars, and 19 have already been sold, I would say it's not stupid at all, but incredibly clever of Ariel.
It's fine if you don't think the car is worth the money - you don't have to buy it, but are you really upset that someone else (19 someone elses so far) have decided that they can afford it and do want it? I don't want to be told that I'm not allowed to spend my money on whatever I want if it's not hurting anyone else.
Maybe some of the purchasers of this car won't have the necessary car control to handle it at its limits, but that really doesn't matter so long as no one drives such a car at its limit on the public road. Driving almost any current car (G-Wiz possibly excepted) at its limit on the UK roads is reckless and incredibly dangerous. I suspect though, that those who can afford to buy such a car will treat it as just another toy to be played with until they are bored with it, though that's not a criticism.